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Santorum ties ObamaCare to Mandela

Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) said former South African President Nelson Mandela was willing to pay a huge price to stand up against a “great injustice” and then added that ObamaCare has become a great injustice in the United States.

“He was fighting against some great injustice, and I would make the argument that we have a great injustice going on now with an ever increasing size of government that is taking over and controlling people’s lives, and ObamaCare is front and center in that,” Santorum said Thursday night on Fox News’s “The O’Reilly Factor.”

The former GOP presidential candidate made the remarks in reaction to host Bill O’Reilly, who said he did not agree with Mandela’s “communist” economic views but respected the leader nonetheless. O’Reilly asserted the GOP should take that example of respectful disagreement regarding the healthcare law.

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Mandela died Thursday night at the age of 95.

Mandela spent 27 years in prison under South Africa's apartheid regime. During that time, Mandela advocated for nationalizing banks and other business, but saw the need to embrace more free market policies during his time as president, according to The Associated Press.

“Nelson Mandela stood up against a great injustice and was willing to pay a huge price for that, and that is the reason he is mourned today, because of that struggle that he performed, but you are right, what he was advocating for was not necessarily the right answer, but he was fighting against some great injustices,” Santorum continued.

The former Pennsylvania senator added that Republicans should make the healthcare law the core issue in the midterm elections.

“The center focus of the 2014 election must be ObamaCare and all of its aspects,” he said.

He added, “The thing about ObamaCare is it is not only bad for the economy, not only bad for people’s health, it is also bad on freedom of conscience, it is also bad on a variety of issues that will energize all across America.”